It was a heartbreaker.  The devastating news came less than two days before my tour kicks off.  The gym studio where my wife and I work out regularly decided to suddenly close the doors.  This is the same gym where my rich businessman friend works out, i.e. the person who inspired the philosophy for the cycle tour.   

All we know is that the franchise owner of the gym absconded from the business and ran away with the money.  There were warning signs.

During the infamous lockdown last year, many members tried to get a hold of said owner and cancel their memberships and/or seek refunds.  He was very slow to reply and kept making lame excuses such as  "The pandemic makes things really hard for gyms right now."  Well that's saying the obvious, but what are you going to DO about it shirlock?

We found out that he borrowed a massive sum of cash to keep the business afloat, but in the last few months he didn't pay the rent, staff or coach salaries.  Before he stole the money, he had his pawns on the inside advertise a fire sale for memberships near the end of June.  They all raked in a killing.  Make no mistake about, his midnight exit was planned.

A lawsuit was started but it won't do any good.  He already fled the country and the money was wired out.  Meanwhile, since the rent couldn't be paid, the building manager padlocked the doors and we had less than a few hours notice.  Everyone was left in a lurch.  I saw all these boxes being moved to the front door on a bike ride that afternoon and it was all looking very suspicious.

So yeah he should be jailed for this.  Unfortunately there's not much that can be done.  The legal structure is virtually nonexistent for the gym industry in China, among others, and he took advantage of this fact.  Sadly these kind of things happen very frequently and this is by no means an isolated case.

With not much time before the tour, the hunt was on for replacement studios.

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While this all sucks, at least it's possible to manage the fallout relatively well with my minimalist philosphy.  Sadly, this is what you have to expect with human nature and make a plan to deal with shit when it happens.

None of my stuff was left in the gym.  Before, I would always constantly pack it in and out.  Other members are now faced with the daunting task of trying to reclaim their stuff in lockers including valuables like heart rate monitors, expensive running shoes, an goodness knows what else.

I was also spared the headache of trying to get a refund on the membership.  Thanks to negotiations, the other studios took us in for a special deal.  It wasn't great, but it wasn't a total loss either.  

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This brings me to another key point:  when it comes to putting down pre-paid cash on various memberships, you want to budget and put down the minimum amount upfront    My guidelines are no more than 3 months or $1000, whichever applies.  This is about the equivalent of a local emergency fund.  When that runs its course, you then keep refilling those small amounts.  People will say of course, "But if you pay a larger amount up front, you pay less each time and you also get bonuses such as a free extra month or discounts, etc..  

As mentioned in my new plan to get rid of money on massage cards, these so-called savings are worthless.  If the boss is going to run away with the money, who really cares if you saved a few nickels on a card.  It's better to have the flexibility to move around and not get locked into risky deals.  If the franchise should go belly up, and don't underestimate that happening, you'll be able to walk away with minimal damage.

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That's just sadly the way it is.  Yet this principle of "investing" a little at a time in China has lasted me over 20 years.  Ironic isn't it.  But I'm an expat, not an immigrant, and that's just the reality.  I would never consider buying property, stocks, insurance, or anything long-term within the Chinese market.  Way too risky.  No thanks. 

Besides gyms, the kind of risk management scenario described also applies to places like:  restaurants, massage chains, hair salons, bars, or others.  The less you put down upfront the better.  Places like these close down in Shanghai all the fucking time

Let's go back to the rich guy who lives out of hotels.  He lived close to the studio for his workout that now closed.   In keeping with his essentialism philosophy, all he did was switch hotels to be closer to another gym studio.